New Delhi, June 28 -- he kept the score at zero. Twenty-seven shots. Zero goals. Spain had an 84 percent possession share and still walked off the field without a win. Cape Verde, ranked 67th in the world, held. ESPN called it one of the defining performances of the group stage.

That single result - a 0-0 draw that felt, in the moment, like a seismic upset - is the image that explains what FIFA's expanded 48-team World Cup actually is. The Round of 32 that begins Sunday, June 28, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles is not a formality. It is the first knockout round of a tournament that has already produced six weeks of compression and chaos, and the bracket is full of stories that have nothing to do with who was supposed to be here.

South Af...